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Tschetter Mission Behind Honor Fest
vBy Julie Eickhoff
Connie and Dave Tschetter loved their community and enjoyed
helping others. Connie mentioned to their son Russ one day that,
because she helped so many people during her time as a nurse for
37 years, she desired for her legacy of kindness and giving to be
carried forth, suggesting the possibility of a scholarship fund. After
her passing, Russ struggled with the promise for years and turned to
God’s help in paving the way for guidance. A few days after asking for
direction, several names popped into Russ’s mind and he called these
people for their leadership. With the help of five sponsors to help get
the event started, the Honor Fest, a Christian music celebration, began.
Though the first year’s event was held in March, it has since been an
annual September event, this year held on September 15th. A variety
of Christian music genres perform at the event in hopes to appeal to a
larger crowd of various ages. The bands slated to perform this year are:
70X Forgiven, Nick Montieth, Everchanged and Identify Raps. Pastor
Pineapple, a Christian speaker, will be presenting the topic of “What
is your Why?” This year Tschetter will also be partnering with five or
six local churches of various denominations who will offer a display of
educational materials.
Tschetter compassionately explains his role in holding the event.
“This became an opportunity for me to, not only put my faith into
action, but to also help those people who don’t have a faith, who have
probably never been to a church, or heard a Christian music concert or
heard the word of God before.” He explained his vision as a beacon of
hope to those people who are lost.
He shared a statistic that he learned while organizing the event,
approximately 32-36% of Yankton’s population does not have a church
home. He explains further, “It has evolved into something that is not
for my parents, it’s not even about the bands, it’s what God is doing
through me to my community…to be able to reach these people
through the most broken times
of their lives when they have no
one else to turn to.”
Because this event is in
its initial stages, the funds
recuperated from ticket sales are
being used to cover the cost of
the event. In the future, Tschetter
hopes to recover enough funds
from the event to begin a
nursing scholarship at Dakota
Wesleyan University where
his mom obtained her nursing
degree and later branch out to
begin a scholarship in his dad’s
honor in either the visual arts or
meteorology field.
vTSCHETTER
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